Entering Austria from the old eastern bloc was, for lack of a better word; refreshing. We were only a street away from Slovakia, in a small village also close to the Hungarian border, but things were completely different; everything was clean - incredibly clean, there were no billboards and everyone was very friendly. We spent …

Spending almost 40 days in countries once behind the 'iron curtain' was long enough. We liked them all for different reasons: Estonia for its spa towns, Latvia for its beaches, Lithuania for its capital Vilnius and Poland for affordable dining, but we'd had enough of social housing blocks and villages busy with billboards. We chose …

We previously visited Krakow as part of a 'City Break' to Warsaw. We caught the 2-hour express train and spent just a few hours around the old town, up to Wawel Castle and due to it being a cold February day; in a few bars and cafes eating goulash. It was because of this previous …

There's nothing funny about it, but seeing a white Fiat Panda full of nuns made both of us chuckle. We were on our way to Niemirow, a small village right on the border with Belarus. Perhaps it's because we live on an island and don't really have borders, but standing on an imaginary line, looking …

Entering Poland from the north-east we hit a crossroads in our trip, either we follow the Baltic coast and turn south through the middle of Poland or eastern Germany, or travel down the east of Poland close to the borders of Belarus and Ukraine. We chose the latter. Our first stop was at Augustow in …

Leaving Latvia we expected much of the same in Lithuania - bumpy roads and quiet dog friendly beaches, but we found the small stretch of coastline Lithuania has; is mostly holiday resorts, full ones at that. After driving through road works on the outskirts of the resorts and then through crowds of holiday makers, either …

Despite our bumpy start to Latvia we soon found our rhythm of bouncing down the roads, through villages that have seen better days and lazing on dog friendly beaches. We made a stop in Roja; one of the more popular towns on the coast, to check the tyre pressures. We'd being nursing a slow puncture …

Feeling fresh following our spa day in Parnu, we left Estonia for Latvia just down the E67, as the many signs stated, a road funded by the EU. Proving what our Estonian friends told us about Latvia being cheaper for booze was correct, the Latvian side of the border was filled with several Alcohol warehouses. …

Still feeling squeaky clean from our spa day in Haapsalu, we slowly (because of the unsurfaced roads) chugged around the west coast of Estonia. Stopping briefly at Ungru Manor and a small beach until a man of about 60 with a large double-headed eagle tattooed across his chest, told us the dog is not allowed …

After leaving Tallinn we spent almost a week at two different 'RMK' locations, these are state managed forest areas all over the country, which at some you can camp. The ones we stayed at were right by dog friendly beaches and also featured dry toilets and firepits; with wood also provided. Since the sun was …